Overdose mortality is reducing the gains in life expectancy of antiretroviral-treated people living with HIV in British Columbia, Canada

Characterizing opioid agonist therapy uptake and factors associated with treatment retention among people with HIV in British Columbia, Canada

“…People with HIV (PWH) are disproportionately impacted by OUD and are at an elevated risk of dying from an overdose due to respiratory distress, liver impairment, or difficulty accessing OUD treatment ( Green et al, 2012 ). In BC, the illicit drug toxicity has reduced survival gains achieved by combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) among PWH ( St-Jean et al, 2021 ). Recent evidence indicates a shift in mortality patterns among PWH, with non-HIV causes, particularly accidental overdoses, becoming the leading cause of death from 2010 onwards ( Yazdani et al, 2022 , Salters et al, 2021 ).…”